the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

Citizen dialog for transparent process

Elections

Sunday, 03 March 2013

The VDT has apparently decided the City of Valdosta is to blame
for the
Withlacoochee Wastewater Woes,
and has made its case in a story and two editorials.
They seem to have forgotten about
the overflow in 2012 already.
And the VDT seems to have forgotten about it and its editor's own
apparent roles in the loss of the recent SPLOST election that
would have funded a new wastewater plant.

When the flooding occurred in April 2009, the City made
extraordinary efforts to hold back the flooding, bringing in dirt
and heavy machinery to build a berm around the influent pump station
and other treatment equipment, working round the clock.

The efforts were successful. The treatment plant remained on during
the duration of the flood, and Valdosta's raw sewage remained
contained, though the facility incurred damages to its electrical
and biological purification systems, according to Utilities Director
Henry Hicks.

This year, the City opted for a different approach—cut
electricity to the underwater portions of the plant, submit to the
flooding and clean up afterwards.

The plant was “taken offline” Thursday at 9 a.m.
“to prevent further damage to equipment and associated
electrical and control systems,” according to a statement
issued by the Department of the City Manager.

The City stated that as a result of the shutdown, “untreated
sewage will be discharging directly into the river” at a rate
of between five and six million gallons of raw sewage per day.

In addition, the floodwaters were allowed into the plant and around
the remaining portions of the berm that was constructed in 2009
during the rising flood. Only half of the berm now remains, as the
other half was removed to allow access to the lower portions of the
plant, Hicks said.

So far, this year's response strategy seems to have saved the City
money. In 2009, about $500,000 was spent in manpower, equipment and
supplies to build the berm alone, and the plant, kept running,
incurred significant damages though raw sewage was kept out of the
river. This year, the money was not spent on the berm or to prevent
the flooding, and at least 15 to 20 million gallons of raw sewage
will have been released into the Withlacoochee by the time the plant
is back online.

There's more in the story, which is well worth a read.
Also note this inserted in the middle of the story:

AP picked up the story about flooding at Valdosta's Withlacoochee
wasterwater treatment plant, citing the VDT and the City
as sources.
The City of Valdosta thinks the County should contribute to replacing the plant,
or maybe the legislature will authorize a municipal option sales tax (MOST).

Authorities shut down a Valdosta wastewater treatment plant as a river flooded critical buildings and structures. The city estimates an average of 5 million to 6 million gallons of untreated sewage will discharge daily into the Withlacoochee River until the flood waters recede and the plant can resume operation. (Photo Courtesy of John S. Quarterman via Flickr.)

VALDOSTA, Ga. —

Authorities shut down a south Georgia wastewater treatment plant as a
river flooded critical buildings and structures.

Valdosta city officials said power at the plant was shut down
Thursday to prevent further damage to equipment and control systems.

The city estimates an average of 5 million to 6 million gallons of
untreated sewage will discharge daily into the Withlacoochee River
until the flood waters recede and the plant can resume operation.

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Brett Huntley responded
to the Commission's mysterious ruling against the public
at the
26 Febuary 2013 Lowndes County Commission meeting,
to close the only public access to the Alapaha River in Lowndes County.
Neither County Manager Joe Pritchard nor County Engineer Mike Fletcher
were paying any attention.

I would like to publicly say that I am shocked with the decision.
I feel the decision was in favor of a sole person, and not in the
interests of the community and the citizens.
We tried to speak and explain our side of the story.
And the county road has not ceased to be used.
It's been being used in our county for over 100 years.
I feel your guys just made a decision that will have an impact
on our culture and heritage in the community that is not good.
It's a bad decision, I feel.

I kind of feel hurt.
I feel it's a personal thing for our community.
That whole road abandonment idea stems from one sole person

Maine Yankee President Mike Sellman said that spending
will be reduced by about 20 percent, or $41 million, from
June through December.

“I think every plant that I'm aware of that has made the decision
to essentially curtail start-up activities has then gone ahead
shut down permanently,” said Sellman.

Maine Yankee has been off line since Dec. 6, 1966.
Several repair and improvement projects had been planned so the plant's
operators could seek Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval to
restart and return the plant to service.

Instead of demonstrating to influence legislators, sometimes it's better
to get elected and legislate: that's what Kyle Jones did in Maine,
and he closed the Maine Yankee nuke,
de-monopolized the state's electrical utilities,
and instituted a 30% renewable energy goal.
All this was helped by the nuclear industry's own incompetence.

Cracking in the plant's steam generator tubes, which carry the superheated,
radioactive water, was first discovered in 1990.
In 1994, Main Yankee officials predicted that the plant's problems
were over after they plugged more than 300 of the cracked tubes.
However, testing of the tubes during a shutdown for refueling in 1995
revealed as many as 10,000 additional cracked tubes.

At the time, it was estimated that permanently shutting down
the plant would cost at least $316 million while,
after 23 years of operation, Maine Yankee had collected only
$100 million to pay for its decommissioning. The most recent
estimate for decommissioning is $369 million, of which
only $169 million has been raised as of this month.

Facing the accumulation of these engineering and operational difficulties,
the owners of the plant signaled a departure from business-as-usual
and, earlier this year, brought in the New Orleans-based Entergy Corp.
to provide management services at Maine Yankee.

Monday, 21 January 2013

Director Lisa Biagiotti
spent two years travelling around the South
interviewing people about AIDS to make a film,
deepsouth.
She found rural AIDS is a bigger and faster-growing problem
than AIDS in center cities,
yet most health and prevention funding goes to urban areas.
The root cause seemed clear to her: poverty.
Here's some deeper dirt (literally) on rural poverty in the U.S.,
and one thing we know can help with that: distributed solar power,
for jobs, for reduced electrical bills, and for energy independence.
What politician wouldn't want jobs for their constituents?

Organizers note that Georgia is ranked sixth highest nationally for
its cumulative number of AIDS cases reported through December 2009.
More than 40,000 known HIV/AIDS cases were reported in Georgia as of
2010.

The South Health District's 10 counties, which include Lowndes and
surrounding counties, report 950 confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS, while
many more are likely infected and risk becoming sick because they
are not being treated. More specifically, there are about 460
reported cases in Lowndes County.

In reporting these numbers, HIV is the virus (HIV disease) and AIDS
is the medical diagnosis made by a doctor of the symptoms, according
to South Health District.

It's a great movie and I highly recommend it.
Director Biagiotti spent a substantial amount of her own money and two years to make
this film, yet there are aspects she could only note in passing,
such as incarceration.
She can't be expected to have researched every aspect;
maybe somebody else can step up and help follow more threads.

The movie starts with some maps about poverty and AIDS in the South.
It did not, however, look outside the South for poverty.
Here are better
poverty maps, from the CDC:

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Bookended by some formulaic remarks about debt
(without mentioning
that
it's already mostly solved),
the Congressman noted he is on the Committee on Armed Services.
He said there is no current
BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Commission),
although one has been asked for.
He said a BRAC wouldn't do anything for near-term debt, anyway
(but he didn't say anything about ending the war in Afghanistan
or stopping funding for un-needed weapons systems as ways of saving money).

He said he is the chair of a House Agriculture Subcommitee
(Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture).
He said he was for research, for the agricultural extension,
and for agricultural exports.

Here's
the WCTV news report, with responses by Gretchen Quarterman,
Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP).

Then she reminded them
she ran on a platform of transparency, and she
asked them to make Commission packets available to the public,
and move CWTBH to the beginning of the meeting so citizens can comment
before the commissioners vote.